Two million Brits to head abroad this Easter, ABTA claims

02/04/2010

By James Wilson.

Some two million Brits will travel abroad from UK airports such as Heathrow and Gatwick this Easter weekend, it has been claimed.

According to the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA), 575,000 individuals will use Heathrow Airport, while 250,000 will depart via Gatwick and 175,000 via London Stansted Airport.

On top of this, Birmingham International Airport will see 60,000 travellers, while Manchester could witness 141,000.

Popular destinations will include Spain, Tenerife, Egypt, Tunisia, Turkey and the US.

ABTA chairman John McEwan commented: "Easter is the traditional curtain raiser to the summer and I delighted to see that hundreds of thousands of our customers are taking the opportunity to take a well earned break both here in the UK and overseas."

Some 85,000 Brits will use the Channel Tunnel to escape to Europe during the break, according to the organisation.

In other news, a partnership between Aer Lingus and Aer Arann has launched new feeder services from the UK to Ireland, the first of which links Robin Hood Doncaster Sheffield Airport with Dublin Airport.